Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Sights and sounds

DUNEDIN, Fla. – Roy Halladay said the origin of the four baseball cards that are stuck in his nameplate is a mystery. Prior to the game, cards for A.J. Burnett, Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum and Jesse Litsch appeared atop Doc’s locker.

Some wondered if it was Halladay’s way of hinting at what he believes the rotation should look like this year.

"I don’t know. They just showed up there. I had no hand in that," Halladay said with a grin.

Asked if Casey Janssen — competing against Litsch for the fifth spot — might add his own baseball card to the display, Halladay laughed and replied: "I’m sure it’ll be up there tomorrow."

On the way to the clubhouse, I also spotted a kid sporting a Brian Wolfe jersey. I told Wolfe and he laughed and said: "Somebody does own one. I didn’t know they sold them."

Also chatted with Scott Rolen after he sat through an odd interview with CityTV’s Kathryn Humphreys for the upcoming game broadcast on Sunday. One of the off-beat questions was something to the effect of, "Would you rather have no teeth or no toes?" Rolen went with no teeth.

"I figured if I had no toes, I couldn’t walk," Rolen said with a shrug.

Yeah, I guess he could still win a Gold Glove without teeth. Talk about in-depth journalism.

I know that this is spring training and that stats right now mean nothing, but don’t forget last year that the jays werent exactly firing on all cylinders either in spring. I remember J.P. saying that it’s only spring training and that he thought the teams play was not indictive of how it would be in the season. We all know how that turned out. If Vernon continues to have his 0 for 3’s on a regular, then my concern will return.

I just finished reading Robert McLeod’s blog on the Globe@Mail web page. It seems that he thinks that Chacin and Jannsen should be asking for equal time with the cards on the locker.I hope they do as well,by pitching their way onto the Doc’s locker.I suspect it was done all in good fun.However could it be that Halladay is being more assertive and opinionated in his leadership role this season?As leader of the pitching staff he has issued a challenge to the hopefulls to step it up and take the job.If this is true,it a good sign for this season.Doc’s a CLASS ACT and it’s showing through.

Don’t forget, you guys that Halladay and Litsch only used 2 pitches, and Wells has been a slow starter for most of his career. From what I heard on the broadcast, Detroit was playing like it was regular season, not Spring Training. I mean, pitching around Joe Inglett? Walking Snider twice in 2 ABs? Give me a break! Let the guys go out there and swing the bat. That’s what Spring Training is for, not winning games. There are lots of games to be won later.
Anyway, it was nice to hear Howarth and Ashby again.

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